Hogan: Drubbing Dubs was perfect response

KILKENNY didn’t give much truck to the merchants of doom after their league final loss and they aren’t paying much more attention to the garlands being thrown their way after their destruction of Dublin in Sunday’s Leinster final.

There was a general expectation that the pendulum had swung in Kilkenny’s favour even before the weekend’s events but no-one predicted Brian Cody’s side would avenge a 12-point defeat with an 11-point victory.

“It was the response we were all looking for after the league final,” said captain Brian Hogan.

“You get days like that. It wasn’t panic stations, it was just one of those things. You have to kind of sit down and figure out what went wrong and then move on from there.

“Things picked up in the last few weeks and it helps when guys come back as well. It makes it more competitive. We knew we weren’t far off. We were shaping up well so thankfully it all went well.”

Hogan struck a familiar tone after the provincial success. Kilkenny captains routinely express their delight at claiming the Bob O’Keeffe Cup but temper it by alluding to bigger stages deeper into the calendar.

That said, this latest piece of silver unarguably carries more weight than many of the 12 that Kilkenny had hoarded in the previous 13 seasons, if only because it brought a two-game losing streak to a halt in Croke Park finals.

The second of those, the loss to Dublin on May 1, may have been the less important of the two but it brought with it a far greater inspection of the side’s health and the prognosis at the time wasn’t all that good.

Suddenly, Kilkenny had gone from a county with the country’s deepest well to one over-reliant on the services of veterans whose worth had been highlighted through their absence that day. As things transpired, Paul Murphy, Noel Hickey and Jackie Tyrell tightened the screws against the Dubs and Hogan enjoyed a good chuckle when it was put to him that they had answered some hard questions.

“I wouldn’t like to be telling Hickey he’s a weak link now, to be honest, hurling in front of him. Sport is sport, you’re going to have good days along with bad days and lads don’t turn bad overnight. I’d have no fears of hurling with those boys any time.’’

The assimilation of younger players Paul Murphy and Colin Fennelly is yet further evidence that this Kilkenny side is not prepared to age gracefully together and walk tamely into retirement. They are, in essence, just new names in a familiar script.

“Down in Kilkenny, it’s not as if they come out of nowhere,” said Hogan.

“Brian and the boys would be watching them. They’d be very familiar with them and know exactly what they’re like. You have to grab your chance, kind of like we all did down through the years. You get your chance and you kind of have to take it. In fairness to them, they performed.”

Not so Dublin.

Anthony Daly’s side were hounded and harassed by their opponents and could have done with the injured Tomas Brady and David Treacy as well as the suspended Ryan Dwyer but Hogan isn’t yet ready to erase them from his thoughts.

“The way the result went in the league final, I wouldn’t be writing Dublin off in any way, shape or form,’’ Hogan said. “I can tell you that no-one will want to draw Dublin in the quarter-finals. They’ll have a say before the year is out, definitely, in the All-Ireland. They’re a serious outfit and they’ve been coming and coming.”